THE CAT AND MOUSE GAME: HOW RUSSIA AND IRAN CAN CIRCUMVENT NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION THROUGH A REGIONAL RAIL AGREEMENT

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication Date: 26 October 2014

As with any agreement, there are the key or main points we focus on yet buried further down is something universally known as the 'fine print.' This is the case for example when we buy a house and choose the neighborhood. In international politics however, we don't necessarily choose our neighbors so when any regional agreement is reached, one has to ask, 'What are the key points?' 'What's in the fine print?'... Read more

FEAR, PREDICTABILITY AND PROFIT:WHY NOTHING WILL CHANGE FOR A DIVIDED UKRAINE

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication Date: 6 September 2014

Achieving 'Harmony in the World' through international cooperation or scourging those 'Disrupting the Peace' are simple enough themes for short media segments but for pragmatists these are neither explanatory nor accurate. Instead realists argue that harmony and peace are illusory ideals which never existed. In world affairs the analogy of 'balancing' or more commonly the 'Balance of Power' appears more apt. Such is the case of Russia's relationship with the Ukraine. Not all that long ago Russia literally had its say in affairs in each of the regions it bordered. Whether it was Eurasia, the Caucasus or particularly in Eastern Europe, everyone looked to Moscow's reaction first before deciding anything on their own. When the Soviet Union fell apart, the rest of the world believed that it was the end of "Russian Hegemony."..... Read more

AZERBAIJANI-GREEK RELATIONS: NEW VISION

Garanfil Hasanova(RIEAS post-graduate internship fellow and Master of Public Administration Candidate of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in the city of New York)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr), Publication date: 27 August 2014

All countries in the world differ from one another at some level, however, they still share similarities in many spheres, sometimes more, sometimes a few. Practices show that having more similarities in traditions and customs or life styles of people from different countries situated in various distances, is the result of political, diplomatic, businesslike relations and friendships that exist between those countries. Contemporary relationship existing between Azerbaijan and Greece is a solid example to this... Read more

MARITIME SECURITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION

Copyright: www.rieas.gr (Publication Date: 27 April 2014)The importance of the maritime domain is beyond any comparison. It is of almost no use to start throwing numbers about the worth of the merchandise transported through the world’s oceans nor the volume or worth of the cargo in which oil and natural gas are transported globally. The problem is that in the high seas the environment is enormous and complex. High seas are an unregulated and complex space, thus extremely vulnerable to maritime threats. In the case of the Mediterranean, maritime security is too vague of a definition and has to be further defined. Is it maritime security in the terms of the European Union? Is it in the frame of NATO? Or is exclusively a responsibility of the coastal states?.... Read more

UKRAINE’S ANTI-SOVIET EURO-REVOLUTION

Taras Kuzio(Toronto-based Research Associate at the Centre for Political andRegional Studies, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS) – www.rieas.gr –based in Athens, Greece – (Date of Publication: 12 February 2014).

The tragic murder of seven protesters on 22 January 2014, symbolically Ukrainian independence and unity day, is the first occasion this has happened in three decades when the country was still part of the Soviet Union. Although the use of firearms and other lethal weapons was authorized by the Nikolai Azarov government in three resolutions that same day under the presidential constitution the buck stops President Viktor Yanukovych..... Read more

THE SECURITY SERVICE OF UKRAINE (SBU)

Dr. Taras Kuzio (Centre for Political and Regional Studies, Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS) – www.rieas.gr – based in Athens, Greece - (Date of Publication: 4 February 2014).

Soviet political cultural tenets of xenophobia, spy-mania and conspiracy theories run throughout the working culture of the Russian and Ukrainian successor intelligence agencies to the Soviet KGB and foreigners (diplomats, journalists, businesspersons and human rights activists) are often assumed to be Western spies. Such mind sets were evident in legislation adopted in Russia and Ukraine that defined foundations and NGO’s that received foreign (i.e. Western, not Russian) funding as ‘foreign agents.... Read more

YEMEN’S ENDURING POLITICAL CONFLICTS AND STALEMATES JEOPARDIZE ITS RECOVERY

Since the revolution in 2011, Yemen’s new government under interim President Abd Mansour Al-Hadhi, has been attempting to undo the damage done to the country’s economy, system of governance, its natural resources, and its security situation, by years of political and economic mismanagement under former President, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

THE AGREEMENT ON IRAN

George N. Tzogopoulos (Political and Media Analyst, Author of the Books: US Foreign Policy in the European Media: Framing the Rise and Fall of Neoconservatism (I.B.TAURIS, 2012) and The Greek Crisis in the Media (Ashgate, 2013).

An agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme had seemed like an almost romantic hope before Sunday 24 November 2013. The intransigence of Tehran to co-operate with international standards and the isolation policy applied by Washington was leading negotiations to an impasse for many years. The election of President Hassan Rouhani in June 2013 was certainly a significant development contributing to a better understanding. But it was rather the success of foreign ministers and diplomats from six different countries which finally paved the way for the breakthrough. In particular, the United States, China, Russia, France, Germany and the United Kingdom agreed with Iran after a marathon of talks to impose limits and rollbacks on its nuclear programme in exchange for a modest easing of sanctions.

THE ESTABLISHMENT AND HISTORY OF AZERBAIJAN’S MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY

For more than twenty years, the world experiences constant changes in the political/diplomatic, social and economic domains. With the fall of communism in the early 1990s and the expansion of the U.S. driven capitalism, the western transatlantic world created a ground for peace and prosperity to flourish. However, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, KGB stopped being the sole player in intelligence gathering and a know-how provider for its member states. At the dawn of 1990s, it became imperative for the newly independent states to establish new intelligence agencies and to comply with international standards of intelligence gathering and analysis. However, there were still lessons to be learned... Read more

The Arab Spring, or “Arab Awakening,” that began in Tunisia in early 2011 has spawned numerous developments across the region, some of them surprising in nature and perhaps in scale. One such development has been a major re-alignment of regional power relations, resulting both in new patterns of relations among countries and in complications of longstanding disputes…. Read more